As horse racing fans, we all have our favourite runners and unforgettable moments that took our breath away. Whether it was Winx in her swansong at Randwick, Makybe Diva taking out her record-breaking third Melbourne Cup or “The Grey Flash,” Chautauqua, bolting from the clouds in any number of his TJ Smith Stakes wins.

That’s why this autumn, TAB, in partnership with Swanky Socks, is proud to bring you Sock Stable; a range of spiffy socks that celebrate past and present racing greats.

Stars immortalised in thread include the undefeated “Thunder from Down Under”, Black Caviar, the racing cult-hero of the early 2000s, Apache Cat, and legendary Melbourne Cup winning mare, Makybe Diva. These three bona-fide Victorian sensations are in good company, calling the likes of Winx, Chautauqua, Alligator Blood and Te Akau Shark stablemates.

Socks can be purchased from just $20.95 (including posting and handling) per pair, or you can bring the whole stable of racing greats home for $99.95.

TAB’s passion for racing runs deep. We are pleased to be supporting initiatives to provide a happy and healthy future for retired thoroughbreds as part of a sustainable industry.

That’s why TAB’s Sock Stable is donating 100% of net profits for every pair of socks purchased back into equine welfare, including Racing Victoria’s Off The Track program.

The goal is to raise $100,000, and with $5 from every pair of socks donated to equine welfare, each purchase makes a big difference.

Think! About your choices. Call Gambler’s Help, Gambling Help or the ACT Gambling Counselling & Support Service on 1800 858 858 www.gamblinghelp.nsw.gov.au or www.gamblinghelponline.org.au. Know when to stop. Don’t go over the top. Gamble Responsibly.

Above: Starcraft is a great value sire that can still get a good result in the sale ring

Magic Millions 2020 has been well covered but we always find it interesting to take a look at the sires that returned the most profit for their supporters in terms of multiple of fee and straight profit.

Below is the Sire Profitability List Top 20 sorted by multiple of fee – this one highlights cheaper sires that delivered a good return.

Turning 20 this year, Rosemont Stud’s Starcraft topped the list by multiple of fee which is really not that surprising.

For a stallion of his quality that can get a Group I winner and seriously good types for the sale ring, Starcraft is priced well below what he should actually be worth if fees were set on merit rather than often fickle market forces.

His three yearlings sold were all colts and his result was flattered by the inclusion of the full brother to his champion son Star Witness that made $320,000, but how good a result was that for B2B Thoroughbreds who bred and sold this cracking colt from Leone Chiara.

Leone Chiara has been to loads of expensive stallions during her stud career – Elusive Quality ($137,500), Bernardini (USA) ($55,000) , Medaglia D’Oro (USA) (twice for $88,000 and $77,000), Sepoy (twice for $66,000) and Sebring (twice for $60,500 and $66,000), but in returning to the bargain priced sire that made her a success in the first place has hit a home run in the sale ring.

For the record she has a filly to follow by Starcraft and was covered by him again last spring.

No Nay Never is an interesting one as he’s now one of Europe’s most exciting young sires and priced at Coolmore Ireland at a fee of 175,000 euros, but back in 2017 when these yearlings were conceived you could go to him here for just $11,000.

Off that fee and given what he’s done so far it would be almost impossible not to make money on No Nay Never in the sale ring this year, although that will change if his success is not replicated in Australia in the next 12 months.

No Nay Never was the leading European First Season Sire of 2018 so is entitled to get two year-old winners and if there’s nothing of note here for him come the end of July, we may not see him come back here given the disparity in fee between Northern and Southern Hemisphere ($44,000 in 2019).

Below is the Sire Profitability List Top 20 sorted by straight profit– this one highlights expensive sires that were worth the big investment in fee. It should be noted Fastnet Rock stood for a private fee in 2017 so is not taken into calculation.

Yarraman Park’s I Am Invincible started his stud career topping the previous list above as a cheap sire punching above his weight, but he’s now moved across to be the best of the expensive stallions in delivering plenty of bang for buck.

For those breeders who paid $247,500 to visit I Am Invincible in 2019, they will be hoping it’s onwards and upwards, but the reality does not always unfold quite that like that.

The mighty Redoute’s Choice had a service fee peak of $330,000 in the years of 2006 and 2007, so yearlings conceived from those record fee years hit sale rings in 2009 and 2010.

For those of us who remember what the world was like post GFC, 2009 was the year the Inglis Easter average dropped from $285,637 to $177,710 and dropped again the next year to $161,150.

Redoute’s Choice was still the leading sire by average in both of those pain filled years and did produce 10 individual million dollar plus yearlings during this time at Inglis and MM combined, but his average dropped sharply leaving many vendors barely covering costs with many forced to sell for a fraction of fee just to survive.

But enough of that depressing history lesson, 2020 has started well and there is nothing not to like about what we’ve seen so far!

Amongst the difficult times we are all enduring are some fantastic initiatives that highlight some of the core values of G1 Goldmine. One of which is family.

As a past family member of G1 Goldmine, I am proud to announce that for the month of April, we would like to invite you to use G1 Goldmine Pro – our highest membership, FREE. You will now have access to our potent Impact Analysis, where you can measure the strength of key crosses within a pedigree (both for an individual horse or any hypothetical mating – perfect for breeding) and use Stallion Match (match a mare to any stallion based on statistics and facts). In order to activate this invitation, simply log into your account and follow the prompts.

Lot 213 from Three Bridges Thoroughbreds has now been relocated to Yarraman Park Stud, as of Tuesday 31 March 2020. Click here to view lot 213.

Lot 298 (Colt by Exceed and Excel from Zenaida) on account of Ampulla Lodge has been REINSTATED in to Easter-Round 1 and is now at Two Bays Farm this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Please call Rob Carlisle on 0499 092 008 and click here to view lot 298.

The details required here will be personal questions: First name, Last name, date of birth and contact information

2) Once someone registers they then have to request bidding approval

– buyers need to enter a limit (Max bidding total for whole sale – not just 1 horse)

Clients will be asked a series of questions where field boxes need to be entered such as: Accountant/ references and their contact number. If there are any questions please contact Andrew Munce or Bill Pantel on (02) 9399 7999.

Once details are filled in and submitted buyers will be notified by the Inglis Client Finance team.

At any time, feel free to contact any member of the Inglis Bloodstock or Finance teams for further assistance.

It is pleasing that racing continues with everything that is occurring in the world. I would like to congratulate all industry participants for keeping the industry going.

To achieve this, there have had to be certain initiatives to adjust to ensuring that the industry continues to operate.

We are all in this together.

In the last few days, you would have heard Racing Victoria announce prizemoney reductions. These include Super VOBIS and VOBIS Gold.

The purpose of these prizemoney reductions is to ensure that we can continue to enable a viable and sustainable industry.

TBV supports the announced reductions of prizemoney including the VOBIS program as measures like this will ensure that the racing and breeding industries are in the best possible position to provide the support required if a shutdown of racing occurs.

From my conversations with Racing Victoria it has been made clear that they view the sustainability of the racing and breeding industry as intertwined.

We are pleased to advise that Racing Victoria support TBV’s recommendation to extend the Super VOBIS deadline to help with cashflow for Victorian breeders. The Super VOBIS deadline for 2018-born foals will be extended to July 31, 2020.

TBV raised your concerns with the Government and Racing Victoria regarding the accommodation and welfare of horses, should racing be suspended for any period of time.

Late last week, TBV submitted a document to the State Government to address these concerns.

I have received feedback from breeders about different issues, such as impacts to cashflow, concerns about potential restrictions with horse movement, including internationally and locally and market decline. I encourage you to communicate issues so that we can continue to advance these with the appropriate Government departments, Racing Victoria and stakeholder bodies.

And as always, you can contact me directly on 0459 510 506 or at tbv@racingvictoria.net.au

The month of March has been a good one for Swettenham Stud’s Toronado (IRE), who has had 13 winners including some very smart three year-olds in Hypercane, Master Montaro, Laverrod, Beehunter, Fender and I’m on Break.

Hypercane made it two wins and two placings from four starts when saluting at Morphettville on Saturday, while Master Montaro was a super impressive debut winner at Pakenham last Friday,

Ridden by Michael Walker, the Richard Laming trained son of Toronado came from last to amble past his rivals when winning the Kentucky Equine Research Maiden Plate (1000m) catching the eye of many good judges.

The three-year-old gelding is part-owned by a group of Kiwis, which includes Woburn Farm principals Adrian Stanley and Hannah Kettlety, who retained a small share in the horse after selling him at the 2018 Ready to Run Sale for $300,000.

The strapping galloper stepped a stride slowly from the barriers which was not unexpected, according to Stanley, who had watched the youngster work at the beginning of the month when in Melbourne.

“I was expecting that as he has been tardy away in his jump-outs and his trial at Cranbourne, where he ran a nice second,” Stanley said.

“Richard decided that rather than going for another trial we would go to the races and treat it like a trial.

“1000m is well short of where he will show his best. He is a big striding horse, but still powerful. I knew he could do that, but I wasn’t expecting it and I didn’t have a bet.”

Stanley said Laming was now looking at options, although it is hard to plan too far ahead given the current Covid-19 environment.

“We kept a share in him because we thought he had a lot of ability. We didn’t really want to sell him, but we had to.

“They have taken their time with him and everyone has been happy with the patient approach which has helped him mentally and physically.”

Stanley explained that he and his partner Kettlety were keen to up the ante in terms of selling Ready To Run Sale horses and Master Montaro was one of two they purpose-bought themselves for that sale.

“That year we bought two horses from the Melbourne Yearling Sale,” he said. “We normally just bought weanlings, but we thought we’d have a go at the Ready To Run market.

“We thought we’d have to pay $150,000 for Master Montaro as a yearling, but we got him for $80,000 which was a nice surprise.

Below: Master Montaro made $300,000 at the Karaka Ready to Run

“The other horse we bought was by Kuroshio and he is called Lincoln Kruz and has won two trials for Lisa Latta and she has a massive opinion of him.”

Stanley praised breaker, pre-trainer and fellow two-year-old consignor Sam Beatson for breaking in Master Montaro, while also recognising the work of Shaun Phelan and Emily Farr who handled the fast-work as the youngster worked towards breeze up day.

“Hannah did most of the educational work on him, while Shaun Phelan and Emily Farr also did a great job doing fast work,” he said. They gave him three gallops prior to the breeze up and the rest of the work was done around the farm, pretty much.

“We weren’t really expecting him to make his breeze up mate look a bit average, which wasn’t ideal, but he did it all naturally and did it on his own ability and wasn’t pushed.

“We decided to target the Ready to Run Sale, as it is another form of income for the farm.

“We will be doing another draft this year, no matter what happens in the future. We are looking to build another barn to accommodate those horses and keep them separate from our yearlings.

“It is a great sale and top line horses continue to come out of the sale and it works for ourselves as pinhookers as well as our clients.”

Stanley said the horse had plenty of interest for family and friends with his father Noel and Uncle Ron also involved in the ownership.

“They got involved because the horse was originally catalogued as a colt rather than a gelding but we disclosed to everyone he had been gelded,” Stanley said.

“When Richard got him to Australia, one of his clients who had committed, didn’t realise and wasn’t keen on racing a gelding so we helped him out and Dad and my Uncle took a share in the horse and we raised our percentage in the horse, plus Dad’s good friend John Heale is also in him.”

Stanley, originally from Taranaki, said it had been nice that Michael Walker could ride the horse given his association with the Stanleys over the years, dating back to partnering multiple Group One winner Grout when riding for Allan Sharrock.

Offers from Hong Kong have already been fielded, but Stanley said the offer would have to be decent to part with the special horse.

Toronado was the busiest sire in Victoria last year covering 197 mares at a fee of $27,500, so his run of success since the start of the year will be good news for a lot of breeders.

While Toronado is a son of Epsom Derby winner High Chaparral, he was a champion miler with a brilliant turn of foot and his offspring are winning most of their races over shorter distances and even his Tasmanian Oaks winner Still a Star was very effective over 1000 and 1200 metres at two.

It’s full steam ahead for Rosemont Stud as they prepare to offer seven yearlings at the Australian Easter Yearling Sale at Riverside Stables.

Rosemont’s principal Anthony Mithen said they will still offer their yearlings at the sale which has been impacted by the coronavirus crisis.

Following strict government imposed protocols, Mithen said the stud was allowing potential buyers to inspect the yearlings at Gnarwarre stud.

“We are going to participate on the online auction and see how we go,” Mithen said.

“We are trying to get people to the farm and we had Ciaron Maher have a look at them on Friday and Trent Busuttin on Saturday and both liked what they saw.”

Mithen said he understood most other Victorian vendors had pulled out of the sale.

“We are nearly the last stud standing in Victoria” he said.

“Three Bridges might have one and Two Bays might have a couple and then there is our seven and that is it.”

Mithen said Rosemont was happy to take inspections this week and encouraged people to book an appointment with the stud.

“We are taking individual appointments only and are doing it is as safely as possible with following the guidelines and protocols.” he said.

Mithen described the seven yearlings as “a nice little draft which included a half to Yankee Rose, a half to Montoya’s Secret and a Starspangledbanner colt which is closely related to Golden Slipper winner, Farnan.”

“And we have a couple by Zoustar and one of them is out of a half-sister to Kiamichi which won the Golden Slipper last year,” Mithen said.

“They are some well-bred yearlings there which we are excited to be offering.”

Passed in for $8,000 off a $13,000 reserve at the Adelaide Magic Millions in 2014, the Victorian sired Beautiful Flyer has been a big money spinner for Gary Milroy and his co-owners, including breeder Margot Noack.

Beautiful Flyer recorded the first city winner for Mornington trainer Patrick Caboche when the mare won over 1300m at Bendigo on Saturday.

It was also Caboche’s first start with the seven year-old mare which was transferred to him from Adelaide trainer Len Jarvis.

Beautiful Flyer is by dual Group winner Solo Flyer (Belong to Me) which at the time was trained by Anthony Cummings at Caulfield and ran his last race late in 2009.

Following his retirement from the track, Solo Flyer began his stallion career at Carin Park Stud, near Hamilton, which also stood Rebel Raider for a short time. Carin Park no longer operates as a stud but offers agistment and other equine pursuits for riders under new ownership.

Beautiful Flyer was from Solo Flyer’s first crop and also gave the sire his first victory when the mare won at Strathalbyn in September 2014, at her second start after a 34 week spell.

Solo Flyer’s start to his stud career was modest when he served 27 mares in his first season in 2011 and continued to cover low numbers. He has since relocated to Queensland where his advertised service fee is $2000. He served only four mares in the 2019 season and has covered only 14 in the past five seasons.

He now paddock serves mares in Queensland.

Milroy, who had raced a lot of horses with Jarvis, said his good friend and former trainer also breaks in horses and told him he comes across one real good every 500.

“And that one was Beautiful Flyer,” Milroy said.

“She is just a good, gutsy horse.’’

Milroy said he had picked out Beautiful Flyer as a yearling and went to the Adelaide Magic Millions with the intention of buying her.

“I went with a couple of mates and one of them wasn’t interested and said he didn’t like fillies and mares,” Milroy said.

“So he spent our money on buying a couple of horses that turned out no good on the track.”

Milroy said he offered $7000 for the filly and someone went to $8000 but the reserve wasn’t met and she was passed in.

“Margot said that someone was going to lease her and I’d seen the horse out at Margot’s place and liked her,’’ he said.

“The person who was going to lease her never rang her back for two months and I asked Margot where the horse was and remarked she was still in the paddock, so sold it to me for $7000.

“And I gave her five per cent of the horse for selling the horse to me.”

Also in the ownership of Beautiful Flyer is Milroy’s wife, Jacqueline, and a good friend, Steve Murphy.

Milroy said Beautiful Flyer was obviously the best horse that Solo Flyer had produced from his limited opportunities.

“She is the only one that he can brag about,” he said.

“Solo Flyer was a good horse himself, because he had Sir Tristram and Horlicks in his bloodlines, and they thought he was a derby horse but he just couldn’t run the distance. He holds the record at Newcastle (1:20.980) for 1400m.”

Milroy, a boilermaker/welder who has worked on gas rigs and coal mines for many years, said he named the mare Beautiful Flyer because his wife teaches and flies planes so the Solo Flyer matched up perfectly with Jacqueline.

“And Blow the Budget (dam), is fitting for me, and the filly was born on my late father’s birthday so I I thought I had to buy her.”

Milroy has bred a few horses including one by Puissance De Lune – three year-old Powerful Flyer – is set to make his debut with Caboche next month.

Margot Noack, who is based at Echunga in the Adelaide Hills, recalls how she spotted Beautiful Flyer’s dam, Blow The Budget (Luskin Star) at a neighbour and friend’s property and was told the mare was agisting but believed the owners wanted to sell her.

Margot said she became even more excited when told the mare was by Luskin Star and her dam was by Snippets.

“I thought good grief,” she said.

“I said if she ever wants to sell her, I’d love to buy her and it happened like that. The mare was in foal and the owners said if Margot wants her she can have for nothing as long as she takes her property and we don’t have to pay anything. She can bring up that foal until we want someone to prepare her for the sales.

“That foal was Happy Ending (Happy Giggle) that went to Singapore and won five or six races at least. She was very small but very quick.”

Another of Blow The Budget’s yearlings, by Devaraja (NZ), was bred by Margot and also sold to Singapore.

Margot said she decided with a few friends to send their mares to Solo Flyer and she was particularly impressed with his Sir Tristram line.

“I thought he would go well with the mare and when I looked at him, he was absolutely magnificent so we put our mares to him and the result was Beautiful Flyer,” Margot said.

“He was like a show horse and was a real show off and she has really taken after Solo Flyer and they become better with age.”

Margot said she had wanted to send the mare back to Solo Flyer but sadly passed away in a paddock accident.

She has a half-sister to Beautiful Flyer – Wings Of An Angel by Written Tycoon who has recently had a filly by Noor Elaine Farm stallion, IIovethiscity.

And Margot said while she didn’t make anything from the $7000 sale of Beautiful Flyer, the free five per cent share she has in the mare and the excitement of winning nine races and $480,825 in prizemoney has certainly repaid her.

Like Milroy, she spoke fondly of her former trainer Jarvis who would often say Beautiful Flyer would become jealous if he gave attention to other horses in the stable.

Margot still breeds from another of her mares, Chapent (Peintre Celebre), which continues to produce winners. The mare’s last two foals – Celine and Peaches De Lune – are by Puissance De Lune and she is again in foal to the Swettenham Stud stallion.

He’d always been fascinated with the size of the legendary Phar Lap’s massive heart which weighed around 6.2 kilograms – nearly twice the weight of the average horse at 3.3 kilograms.

His interest in hearts both human and later equine became a passion of Gay’s life. He was fascinated in this sector during his medical studies which he excelled in. This led him to becoming a cardiologist.

But it wasn’t just the human heart that Dr Gay was keen to study. With the assistance of his good friend cardiac technologist Glen Barker, they began scanning horse’s hearts to see if there was any correlation with the equine ability of big-hearted horses like Phar Lap.

They wanted to know whether they could scientifically determine what made the heart tick in elite horses and if the odds could be narrowed down to picking a “good one” in determining different characteristics in the hearts of horses.

He said while doing his medical training he wondered whether anyone had thought about horse’s hearts. He grew up wondering about the correlation of Phar Lap having a large sized heart.

“I did a trial where I scanned a number of horses without knowledge of who they were.” he said.

“I started seeing certain characteristics in the better performing horses. We tried to extrapolate the information to yearlings and within a couple of years we did a few thousand yearlings. We followed their performances and worked out the common characteristics between cardiac parameters and good racehorses.”

Gay said that because he had become increasingly busy with the human heart as he launched One Heart Cardiology in 2014, he doesn’t do much of the equine heart work now.

“But my business partner Glen Barker still scans the horses routinely at the sales,” he said.

Gay said he wouldn’t buy a horse without scanning their heart, as for him it is an important element of the process.

Ironically it was the work of Gay and Barker which led to them testing the heart of a yearling by Snitzel, out of Sunset Express and recommending to Sean Buckley and Viv Oldfield to buy the colt. Little did they know that this yearling would go onto to win a Cox Plate as Shamus Award and amass $2.4 million in prizemoney and later become a sought-after sire.

“I have been scanning horse’s hearts for about 10 years with Glen Barker. We found Shamus Award for Vic Oldfield and Sean Buckley,” Gay said.

“As a thank you, after Shamus Award went to stud they gave us a serve every year. We wanted to breed a Shamus Award progeny so asked a few breeders about the mares that would be suitable.

“We bought a mare (Is it A Mosquito) specifically to go to Shamus Award following the advice we were given. Her first foal was a small filly so we elected to sell her at the Classic Sale for $45,000. She won a few races but is now retired.”

They sold the mare who was in foal to Shamus Award at the 2018 Great Sal for a modest $5,500.

At the time the mare was sold, Shamus Award had not produced a lot of good horses but has since had many successes on the track with the likes of the talented Mr Quickie.

In another twist, Gay and Barker, along with a group of friends and family now race the two year-old filly, Swats That, who collected $158,500 when she won the VOBIS Gold Rush (1000m) on debut at Bendigo’s metropolitan status meeting last Saturday.

The filly is bred by Gay and trained by Leon and Troy Corstens, by Shamus Award from Is It A Mosquito (Bel Esprit/Yes I Will).

Swats That is the second foal of Is It A Mosquito and Gay thought she was a lovely type and decided to keep her to race.

Swats That’s team of owners weren’t surprised with her win after she’d produced some impressive trial performances.

Trainers Leon and Troy Corstens had hoped that the filly would be eligible for the $1 million VOBIS Sires Showdown (1200m) at Caulfield on April 18, but Shamus Award, now standing at Victoria’s Rosemont Stud, was at the Hunter Valley when he served Swats That’s dam.

“She did a really good job,” Troy said.

“The VOBIS scheme is fantastic and makes a huge difference.’’

Corstens said he gave his owners the choice of running at Bendigo or in a stakes race in Adelaide.

“But Adam and Glen both picked Bendigo which was a very smart decision.” he said.

Corstens won the VOBIS Gold Rush at Bendigo two years ago with a filly he part owned, Thrillster, who went on to win the Sires Showdown.

He believes Swats That is every bit as good as Thrillster who is out of Rosemont’s stallion, Starspangledbanner.

Rosemont’s Anthony Mithen said Shamus Award has stood one season at his stud and is yet to have any Victorian horses on the track.

“Shamus Award is going really well and he is showing that he can get speed horses, two year-olds that can get a mile and further.

“He is a bit of bombproof option for Victorian breeders and probably interstate breeders this coming season.

“In this new world we are living in we have thoughts on a service fee for him but that will be all up in the air until we see where things settle. But I am glad that I have him in my barn.”

Mithen said that Rosemont sent 20 of their own mares to Shamus Award.

“Although we don’t own any of him, we are firm believers in him and are genuine investors in the horse. It’s good and exciting.’’

I write to you tonight to provide you an update in relation to COVID-19 and the Victorian-breeding industry.

TBV are working with Inglis in relation to the Gold sale to represent the Victorian Breeders position. Kayley Johnson, Jenny Moodie and I spoke with as many vendors as we could to understand what your positions are and what you believe would represent the best outcome for your farm. TBV President- James O’Brien, then put forward the collective response to Inglis. The response was that vendors felt that the sale should be postponed given the current climate.

After our conversations with Inglis, it has been confirmed that the Gold sale and will be run in conjunction with the Great Southern sale, which will run from the 12-15 July. This will be reviewed on April 30, to ensure it reflects any conditions we may face at that time. However, Inglis have been clear, that regardless of what does happen the sale won’t be moving to earlier than this date. Inglis tonight have also released a revised 2020 schedule, which you can find here.

Additionally, you have raised concerns that in the event of racing being suspended, how the breeding industry will be supported, and the welfare of horses be maintained in the current climate.

In this regard, yesterday we met with the Minister of Racing’s office to talk through those challenges we face. We are currently preparing a paper which will be submitted to the Government to address these challenges, to ensure the welfare of the horses comes first and making sure that breeders also don’t end up in a tougher position.

Today, I met with Racing Victoria, the Minister’s office and other industry stakeholders to talk about the situation as it currently stands. Post this meeting, the TBV Board met to discuss issues that have arisen due to COVID-19. We will continue to have meetings regularly as a team to address the current situation.

We have only just learned tonight at 9:45pm, that Mark Zahra’s COVID test has shown he is negative to COVID-19. This is a great result for both the racing and breeding industry.

Finally, have you checked on your friends, or your neighbours today? A phone call or text can go a long way, I personally am trying to flick a text to people to see how they are going.

Sometimes, people need a little more support, which in this case Racing Victoria have extended their Stableline program to those people employed in the Victorian breeding industry. It is an independent counselling service which anyone can call 24/7 on 1300 520 122.

We will get through this if we support each other and build one another up.

And as always, you can call me direct on 0459 510 506 or email me at tbv@racingvictoria.net.au, should you wish to share ideas or concerns.

Ballarat trainer Mitch Freedman started with the top two horses in the ballot for next month’s $500,000 VOBIS Sires Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield.

When the ballot order was recently released, Freedman had his gelding Southern Moon sitting at the top and was followed by the stable’s other exciting stayer, Moonlight Maid, at No. 2.

Both are sired by Swettenham Stud stallion Puissance de Lune.

Southern Moon earnt his No. 1 ranking with $413,150 to his name. The three year-old filly, Moonlight Maid, won the Group 2 VRC Edward Manifold Stakes to give Puissance de Lune his first stakes winner, was next with $326,500.

Southern Moon finished second in November’s Victoria Derby (2500m), while five days later Moonlight Maid was third in the VRC Oaks (2500m).

Unfortunately Southern Moon had bone chips removed after his Derby run. Freedman explained that Southern Moon had suffered a couple of setbacks which had ended any chance at the big race at Caulfield on April 18.

“He won’t be seen for a while,” Freedman said.

“He has a few little niggles at the moment.”

But Moonlight Maid is certainly on track for the VOBIS Sires Guineas.

She resumed in the Group 2 Sunline Stakes at The Valley last Friday night and worked home strongly to finish three lengths from the winner Mamzelle Tess.

Freedman said Moonlight Maid’s goal this preparation is the Group 1 Australasian Oaks in Adelaide in May.

“Obviously her plans are to go to South Australia in May but those plans are up in the air at the moment as all plans are,” Freedman said.

“I don’t know how long racing can keep going at the moment.”

Moonlight Maid went into Friday night’s race with two trials behind her and Freedman was delighted with her performance.

“I thought she ran a terrific race as it was very high-pressured.” Freedman said.

“And from her first up run last time, she certainly ran a lot better than that. She is on track for the Australasian Oaks.”

Freedman said the Group 1 Australasian Oaks (2000m) at Morphettville on May 2 was always Moonlight Maid’s target.

Neville Murdoch can still manage a chuckle when he recalls what could have been a life-changing moment.

He was offered the choice of two stallions – O’Lonhro and I Am Invincible when the pair finished their respective racing careers about a decade ago.

Murdoch, who has owned Larneuk Stud near Euroa for 20 years, opted for the son of Lonhro which stands at his stud for $5500, while I Am Invincible started his stud career with a service fee of $11,000 but in a typical rag to riches story, stood last season at $247,500.

Murdoch was happy to tell the story after O’Lonhro produced his first stakes winner when Mamzelle Tess won the Group 2 Sunline Stakes at Moonee Valley on Friday night.

“If you want to have a bit of a laugh, I was offered I Am Invincible at the same time as O’Lonhro,” Murdoch said.

“The same owners owned both of them and all of the so called experts said don’t buy I Am Invincible.

“I was clever wasn’t I? You’d never be able to buy him now.

“We never even discussed money and in the end he never got sold.

“It was a toss of the coin type of thing.”

“O’Lonhro is out of the same family as well but has never had the numbers he deserves.’’

Murdoch watched Mamzelle Tess’ victory from Asia, but cut short his trip because of the coronavirus and has arrived safely back in Australia.

“I watched it from overseas actually and I was so rapt because the lady who bred the mare, Margaret Naismith, is just a brilliant lady,” Murdoch said.

“The mare has been so brilliant for them and I had $100 on her each way at $24 or $25. It was fantastic.

“And it was a fair field she beat too. She always starts at big odds and it’s crazy.”

Murdoch said has had a long association with Margaret and they still have Mamzelle Tess’ dam Phoenix Crown (Sarason) on the stud as a nanny mare.

“The mare (Phoenix Crown) hadn’t produced anything special before but this one was a beautiful type and we just hoped it could race well fo her,” he said.

“And it’s turned out, she is a good winning horse.”

O’Lonhro, according to Murdoch, is an underrated stallion that has never been given a top line of mares.

“I don’t know what he is running at now but at one stage he was running about 62% winners to runners.” Murdoch said.

“It can be frustrating that he doesn’t get the support he deserves.”

“He has done well for us and we have a good loyal base of people who breed from him every yea.”

While O’Lonhro has had plenty of winners, Murdoch said Mamzelle Tess was the best the stallion had produced so far.

Cranbourne trainer Cindy Alderson also had a talented son of O’Lonhro, the gelding named O’Lonera that has won six races and earnt $562,550 in prizemoney. Murdoch’s homebred O’Tauto shows plenty of promise after having two wins from 10 starts and already has won $221,000. The gelding will be back for the spring following a small set-back injury.

Murdoch said he hopes that the latter years of O’Lonhro’s stallion career might be his best ones and Mamzelle Tess’ is leading the charge.

Murdoch is not expecting much of a change in the breeding season for O’Lonhro “He’ll probably get his 30 or 40 mares from reliable breeders.”

“But saying that, who would know. If Mamzelle Tess can pull a couple more races off and O’Tauto comes back and does what we think he can do, you never know.”

“It’s going to be a tough year and who knows if even the shuttle stallions will come to Australia with everything that’s going on so the support may remain locally.”

O’Lonhro served 33 mares last season but Murdoch reiterated that he doesn’t get big numbers but his winners to runners’ ratio are good and he deserves successful progeny.

“When you are dealing with $5000 stallions they can come from anywhere,” he said.

“And she came from nowhere as well.”

Murdoch said he wouldn’t be surprised if O’Lonhro produces another stakes winner and has been delighted to see the recent success on the track.

Margaret Naismith appreciates how lucky she was to win the Sunline Stakes, especially with the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus.

Mornington husband and wife training partners, Amy and Ash Yargi, celebrated a training double on their home track at last Saturday’s metropolitan status Mornington Cup meeting with a client’s home bred and a horse that cost $20,000 as a yearling.

The two Victorian bred horses – Jamaican Hurry, who won her second successive city race, and I’m Telling Ya completed the double for Yargi Racing.

The five year-old Jamaican Hurry is by Von Costa De Hero and six year-old I’m Telling Ya, which Ash is the managing owner of, is by Reward For Effort.

“It was a very good day at the office, ‘’ Amy said.

“Hobby breeder Paul Butterss bred Jamaican Hurry and races her with a couple of partners.

“It’s very rewarding when you bred them and now she is a two-time city winner. He was in tears when she won at Flemington and did the same thing the other day when she won.

“He has always been a magnificent type and I wouldn’t have bought him otherwise, but the seller just had his one horse.” she said.

“I think he just got lost in the crowd, but I loved him.”

Amy said Reward For Effort is doing a good job and is producing what she describes as underrated horses.

She said her and her husband’s stable are having plenty of success and are being rewarded for the hard work.

Riverbend Farm stands Von Costa De Hero for a modest $2200.

The farm is owned by Russell Osborne and his veterinarian wife Caroline who are delighted with the results of their stallion.

“He is obviously not covering big books of mares, but he is lovely horse to deal with and we love him.” Caroline said.

“The thing with his progeny is that even though he ran second in the (Golden) Slipper himself, his progeny seem to be older maturing horses and you just need to give them more time.

“He has done well for us and we are very happy with him. His stats for his three and four year-olds are very good. The last time I checked they were over 60 per cent.’’

Caroline said they believed Von Costa De Hero’s price was extremely good value.

“We think he is exceptional value to be honest,” she said.

Hobby breeder Paul Butterss admits that he spent a lot more on the service fee when the stallion Von Costa De Hero was standing at Darley.

“I bred a mare (Grano D’Oro) and she has had seven or eight foals and generally people want to buy the colts and therefore I retain the fillies.

“And that’s what happened with her. She was offered as a weanling and wasn’t sold so we took her home and awaywe went. We gave her plenty of time but she was a horse that struggled early and even though she showed us nice ability and won a jump out, she wasn’t physically mature enough.

“I think we gave her 48 weeks out after her first prep.”

Butterss said at one stage he put her out in the paddock and was going to give her away as a broodmare.

“I went down to have a look at her after a couple of months and she was changing shape and starting to look like a horse and so I gave her more time,” he said.

Butterss said he needed a mate for a yearling filly he was preparing for a VOBIS sale and brought the Von Costa De Hero filly out of the paddock and started doing a bit of work with her.

He said the filly was starting to look good and he decided to send her back to Amy for a second preparation.

“And that’s the result we have got now,” Butterss said.

“Amy said she really liked the horse but couldn’t work out why she wasn’t racing well in that first prep and was disappointed like we all were.

“But the time has made her, so it’s very exciting.”

Butterss said it cost him $20,000 for the service fee when he sent Jamaican Hurry’s dam to Von Costa De Hero at his first season in 2011. A colt was produced which was sold as a weanling.

The fact that the stallion didn’t win a lot of races didn’t bother Butterss who said he just liked the look of the stallion.

“I liked the colt from Von Costa De Hero so much that I sent the mare back to him a year or two later and Darley gave me a free cover and the result is this mare now,” he said.

“The funny thing is that he ran second in the Golden Slipper and if he wins that, he’s standing up in the Hunter Valley and it’s a completely different story.”

The only broodmare Butters now has Grano D’Oro’s daughter Artie’s Lucy (Artie Schiller) which he raced to four wins and she now has a Starspangledbanner filly which was born last September. Artie’s Lucy also has a two year-old filly by Warhorse which Butterss soon plans to syndicate.

Butterss, who is an irrigation contractor and landscape gardener, said he had been racing and breeding horses for a long time and admitted he’d sacrificed a lot but having a good one made it worthwhile.

He said he leases paddocks at Chelsea Heights so he can look after his own horses.

Butterss is hoping that the coronavirus won’t stop them from taking Jamaican Hurry over to South Australia to compete in a listed race.

Dear Victorian breeder,

I write to you today, to update you on the latest regarding COVID-19. As we all know, this situation continues to evolve and does so at an alarming rate.

Today, I will once again meet with Racing Victoria, the Victorian State Government, and other key racing stakeholder groups to talk about racing and the impacts COVID-19 has had on our industry.

Following this meeting, while I have no doubt Racing Victoria will provide an update, I too will keep you updated.

These meetings are beneficial as they have provided invaluable recommendations which can be adopted in the breeding industry and provide another line of communication to the Minister. These meetings have helped me to provide recommendations which I sent to you last Monday.

On Friday, I also had a discussion with the Minister’s office about the Victorian breeding industry and how COVID-19 will impact our farms, businesses, and employees. I will continue to speak with the Minister’s office and Racing Victoria.

Thoroughbred Breeders Australia (TBA) has released guidelines for your farm in the wake of COVID-19. I encourage you to share this through your networks, forward the email on to your neighbour, share it on social media. Sometimes emails get overlooked. You can find the guidelines by clicking here.

This country was built on community and helping one another get through the tough times. Kindness and checking in on your neighbour go a long way (while maintaining social distancing protocols).

If you or anyone you know, needs to reach out for support in this time, Racing Victoria have extended their Stableline serviceto those who are employed in the Victorian breeding industry for the period of the COVID-19 outbreak. The service is a free, independent counselling service and is available 24/7 to you on 1300 520 122. Should you wish to utilise other 24/7 support services, you can find a list of them in the table below.

Never in our lifetimes have we experienced something of this nature. There is no rule book as to how we should make decisions, but one thing is crucial and that is we must listen to those in charge and take their messages seriously to get through this period.

And as always, you can contact me directly at tbv@racingvictoria.net.au or on 0459 510 506.

http://www.tbv.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/TBV_Logo.jpg00TBVhttp://www.tbv.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/TBV_Logo.jpgTBV2020-03-17 19:48:452020-03-18 22:56:55Victoria representing five of the top ten stallions at the Adelaide sale